Removable door handle guard



E. LEWIS REMOVABLE DOOR HANDLE GUARD Filed Sept. 27, 1937 Patented Dec.13, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,140,239 REMOVABLE DOOR HANDLEGUARD Edward Lewis, Chicago, Ill. Application September 27, 1937, SerialNo. 165,939

1 Claim.

This invention relates to the door handles of automobiles, and moreparticularly to means for rendering them harmless when carried intoforcible contacts with the doors or body portions of adjoiningautomobiles, and my main object is to provide a guard for the abovepurpose which is readily applicable to and quickly removable from thedoor handle.

A further object of the invention is to provide a guard of the abovetype which has sufficient flexibility to fit either the curved orstraight types of automobile door handles.

Another object of the invention is to construct the novel guard in amanner to exert a grip on the door handle and so be prevented fromsliding or falling off the same.

An important object of the invention is to make it in one piece and sosimple as to be produced at trifling cost.

With the above objects in view and with any others that may suggestthemselves from the description to follow, a better understanding of theinvention may be had by reference to the accompanying drawing, inwhich:-

Fig. 1 is a side view in perspective of the guard detached;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the guard mounted on a curved handle; and

Fig. 3 is a similar View of the guard mounted on a straight handle.

Where automobiles are parked side-by-side, as in public garages andparking lots, it frequently happens that the opening of a door of agiven car carries the handle thereof into forcible contact with the dooror body of the adjoining car, causing a dent or deep mark to be made.Cushion guards have been made to fit over the door handles for theprevention of the damage mentioned, but the ones which have come to myattention are either involved or of a permanent character, making theircost so high as to discourage their purchase or manufacture. It hastherefore been my intention to provide a guard 4 for this purpose whichis both efficient and capable of selling at a nominal figure or be givenaway as a premium.

In accordance with the foregoing, specific reference to the drawingindicates the body of the o guard at I!) and in the form of alongitudinallycurved pad of gum rubber. The pad is also transverselyarched, and one of its end portions is laterally enlarged to form a ringH, which is projected opposite the hollow of the pad. In order to mountthe guard on the rounded secures and holds the necessary grip,

type of door handle shown in Fig. 2, it is applied at the free end ofthe handle with the free end of the pad first, and then with the ringslid along the handle until the pad seats over the shank or back portionthereof. Due to its curvature 5 and arched formation, the pad adjustsitself substantially to the form of the handle shank, whether thecurvature thereof is more or less pronounced, and the opening in thering is of such size as to cause the ring to exert a grip on the 10handle when the guard is in place, so that the same will not turn orslide away from its proper position.

The guard is similarly applied in the case of the straight type ofhandle shown in Fig. 3, and 15 adjusts itself to the same by opening orflattening somewhat from its normal curvature.

In either application the novel guard provides a cushion of substantialthickness atthepointwhere the handle makes the injurious contact previ-20 ously referred to, whereby to shield and protect the part contactedfrom being dented, scratched or marked. One advantage of the presentguard is its ready adapt-ability to the popular types of door handles,through the fact that it is self- 25 adjusting to the forms thereof andholds its place by inherent tension. Another features is the simpleattaching ring, which fits all handles,

and requires no adjustment or extra parts. Further, 30 the device, byhaving the guard portion at one side of the ring-the only place where itis needed-is easy to mount and remove, since it does not have to fit orconform to special sizes or forms of handles. Finally, the guard, by its35 one-piece, exceedingly simple construction, may be manufactured atnominal cost, to sell at a trifling figure or even be givenaway as apremium, encouraging its adoption and prolific use as a protectiveappliance. 40

I claim:-

As a new article of manufacture, a guard for both the curved andstraight type of handles of an automobile door, comprising a thick,arcuate strip of resilient rubber adapted to overlie a 4,5 portion ofthe outer surface of said handle, a longitudinally extending, shallow,handle receiving groove formed in the inner surface of said strip, aninwardly directed handle encircling resilient ring formed on said strip,said ring forming means for causing said strip to conform to the shapeof both straight and curved door handles.

EDWARD LEWIS.

